Materials Science and Engineering Commons^™

Ultrathin, Ultrasmooth And Low-Loss Silver Films Via Wetting And Annealing, Weiqiang Chen, Kuo-Ping Chen, Mark Daniel Thoreson, Alexander Kildishev, Vladimir M. Shalaev

Weiqiang Chen

We have demonstrated that a thermal annealing treatment can reduce the optical losses in ultrathin, ultrasmooth, silver films deposited on a Ge wetting layer to values as low as the bulk material value and at the same time maintain an ultrasmooth surface. The annealing effect is sensitive to the annealing temperature and time, both of which should be carefully controlled. This annealing treatment is also effective for Ag–SiO2 multilayer composite films.